Rants, ramblings, reviews, reports. By Ross

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44 sleeps. Come on in, the water’s lovely

I’m not certain, but I think it was the bible where the incredibly wise advice “let him without sin, cast the first stone.” And what was relevant in biblical times is certainly still the case today.
At first blush opposition health spokesman Jeremy Hanson thought he was on a winner today, when he claimed Health Minister Katy Gallagher had put a photo op before the health of patients at Canberra Hospital.
It looked like manna from heaven for Hanson. A disgruntled cancer patient contacted him to complain her radiation treatment had to be rescheduled to accommodate a photo opportunity for Gallagher. It looked like a publicity nightmare for the Chief Minister, already reeling from the health data scandal.
Gallagher didn’t deny radiation patients had to be rescheduled to accommodate the event, although she did deny she was aware of this at the time. The fact the event was moved in the first place because of the libs no confidence motion in Gallagher was by-the-by. It was, and is, a bad look no matter what the reason.
But then it all took a turn for the worse for Hanson this morning, when a caller to 666 breakfast said she’d seen the liberal party health spokesman himself being shown around the hospital, causing, she believed, some inconvenience to patients.
Hanson responded that he’d applied for the tour nine months in advance, and he would be appalled if it caused inconvenience. But he couldn’t say for sure that it hadn’t.
Well as it turned out, it did. At least that’s according to Green’s health spokeswoman Amanda Bresnan, who helpfully tweeted me later in the morning to tell me she was on the same tour, and yes, the hospital had shut down the breast screen unit to accommodate the pollies visit.
Meanwhile you can expect more fireworks on the 666 breakfast show tomorrow, when Andrew Barr, Brendan Smyth and Meredith Hunter come together for our political panel. The liberal’s promise to overturn Barr’s tax reforms has been the story of the week.
By the way, don’t underestimate the anger and disappointment being felt at ActewAGL headquarters this week over the government’s decision to award the solar farm to a Spanish company. More than a few are questioning if FRV will be able to deliver at the price they’ve quoted.